There have been many solar heating arrangements devised to utilize the sun as an energy source for heating residential dwellings and other buildings. Usually, these arrangements employ solar collector apparatus which is mounted on the roof, or on some other structural element of the building such as a specially constructed sidewall. While solar heating systems of this type are often effective they require special construction techniques for the building, and thus usually preclude the use of conventional building designs, and in particular the use of commonly available manufactured housing units and preformed commercial buildings. Thus, the use of such known solar heating systems tends to significantly increase the overall building construction cost and sale price, because of the need for specialized designs and expensive installation work.
A new concept in solar heating equipment for buildings is disclosed in the present inventor's issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,538. That patent describes a new foundation method and arrangement for building erection, utilizing preformed, precast concrete beams supported in a unique manner upon the earth, and which greatly reduces the time and expense of foundation construction. Further, the patent discloses how solar energy collecting means can be combined with the new preformed beam foundation system, to allow heating of buildings mounted on the foundation with solar energy without requiring the usual extensive modifications to the building itself.
More particularly, the patent teaches the installation of solar collector equipment on one of the performed beams, so that it does not need to be installed on the building. At least one of the preformed beams is made of concrete and acts as a heat sink, and the solar collector equipment is arranged to utilize the heat sink characteristics of this beam. Means is then provided to transmit heat from the solar collector equipment and the concrete beam to the building, which in a preferred form of the invention described in the patent comprises ducts leading directly from the preformed concrete beam and the solar collector to the building interior, and suitable return ducts for the cold air.
While the arrangement shown and described in the noted issued patent is effective, it has now been found that the solar heating system can be made much more effective by utilization of a unique arrangement for handling air flow between the solar collector apparatus and the building interior. That unique arrangement is the subject of this invention, and constitues a significant improvement over the invention as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,538.